Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Robin Hood

Ok, here's a really nerdy secret about me: I started learning html coding and making layouts for Livejournal in middle school. I had a million different accounts just to test layouts on and get familiar with coding. Plus, I was obsessed with all the little groups that made icons. For some reason, those little 100x100 pixels are just so pretty to me. Note that I said "are" because I still like them. Usually. And every now and then, I look them up. Now is one of those times.

(Click images for sources)

Last night, I watched Disney's Robin Hood for the first time. We were more about the princess movies in my house, so there are a few that escaped me, but I'm working on catching up. But Robin Hood was awesome! It's my roommate's favorite Disney movie, and she was laughing at how into it I was last night. Let me tell you, that movie is intense. Did you see that rhinoceros executioner!? How is that ok for little kids?! But it's also really funny. I'm bummed I missed out on it as a kid. And from an animator's standpoint, it was wonderful. I recognized a lot of the scenes from standard Disney reference footage, but it was still beautifully done. And those opening titles with the parade of characters crossing the screen was perfect. Sir Hiss reminded me a lot of Kaa from The Jungle Book, but Kaa never got his head stuck in a balloon and flew around. I can't tell you how hard I was laughing at that part. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

One of my favorite parts of watching Disney classics is picking out familiar voices and figuring out what other characters they were. I'm getting really good at it! And I also like picking out similar animation styles, especially if I don't know the date of when something was made, so I can place it between two other movies. I guessed Robin Hood was between The Jungle Book and The Rescuers. I was right :) Those are probably just more reasons you should never watch animated movies with me. I'll tell you all the history of Disney's Nine Old Men and which movies Tim Burton worked on before Nightmare.